Smart phone devices may be portable electronic devices such as smart phones, cell phones, smart phone tablets, etc. Smart phone devices recently experienced rapid development and tend to employ various additional functions in addition to basic telephony functions. To cope with users' demands, smart phone devices having various functions have been launched.
Such a smart phone device includes a basic telephony function, and may have a digital camera module, and in addition thereto, is capable of performing communication through Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) or 3.sup.rd Generation (3G), 4.sup.th Generation (4G) network, wireless communication with neighbouring devices through a Bluetooth module, and communication using Near Field Communication (NFC). In addition, a variety of location information services can be accessed using the smart phone by simultaneously employing a Global Positioning System (GPS) module, a terrestrial magnetism sensor, an ambient light sensor, etc. The usage environment of the smart phone and smart phone tablet can thus be automatically controlled using various communication and location functions.
Meanwhile, the smart phone and smart phone tablet allow a user to capture a video including High Definition (HD) video by using a built in digital camera, to listen to music in various file formats including MPEG Audio Layer-3 (MP3), and to enjoy a video file stored in the internal memory of or external memory card plug in to the smart phone devices.
A smart phone device may be also used to store, to view, to create and to manage electronic documents, personal data, etc.
The form of smart phone has evolved from the initial form like a bar-type form, a folder-type form, a slide-type form, etc., to a smart phone or smart phone tablet which has a typical bar-type form and has a touch input/output with a large screen placed to occupy a greater part of a front side of the smart phone device.
The recent trend of smart phone forms are mostly dominated by bar-type forms that have a large screen that occupies a majority of the surface area of the front side of the smart phone devices for better viewing and touch input/output experience. The size of the touch screen of a smart phone device also is getting bigger, from approximately 3.5″ to 6.5″ or more, and a smart phone tablet will have a touch screen size from approximately 7″ to 10″ or more.
The touch input of smart phone devices has virtually replaced all the functionalities of a traditional cell phone's physical keypad. However, there are some native characteristics of a physical keypad that cannot be replaced by touch input using touch screens. Such characteristics include the physical touch and press feel, a.k.a. tactile input of the physical keypad. The input accuracy of physical keypad also is much better compared with touch screen input, particularly when using a single hand and one thumb for inputting. In most of the cases, the input using a touch screen requires both hands to hold the smart phone device and use the thumbs to input, or one hand holding the smart phone device and the other hand doing the input using one or more fingers. Single hand input is the most difficult because of the sensitivity of a touch screen, and in particular when using a bigger size smart phone with a large touch screen.
The simplicity and fixed key layout region of a physical keypad also makes it possible for many users to make a call simply by using their thumbs without even looking at the phone screen, as they can feel the keys and their positioning. This advantage of physical keypads is hard to mimic by touch input using touch screens as touch screens are too sensitive, and users are prone to input wrongly. In addition, it is hard for smart phone users to make a call without looking at the phone's touch screen, as there is no physical touch feel like a physical keypad.
There are some smart phones that do provide both the touch screen and physical QWERTY keyboard as an input interface. However, the presence of a physical QWERTY keyboard will typically occupy approximately ¼ to ½ of the area of the front side of the smart phone devices. This will mean that the size of the touch screen will have to be made smaller and will reduce the viewing and touch input/output experience of the users. Furthermore, the small physical keys of the QWERTY keyboard are also difficult for users to input with accuracy versus the physical keypad to make calls, particularly when using the single hand thumb input method.
Therefore, the advantages of a physical keypad mentioned above are hard to mimic by both touch screen input and physical QWERTY keyboard input.
Additionally, consumers who purchase a smart phone are most likely to use an additional protective case, particularly a flip cover protective case, to protect the exterior of the smart phone and the touch screen of the smart phone from colliding, wearing away, and from damages caused by accidentally knocking, dropping, impacting, etc. The flip cover protective case is made of material such as rubber, silicon, urethane or metals such as aluminium, or a combination of various materials, etc. The flip cover protective case is a protective case or shell or frame which is used by attaching it to the back side and/or edge of the smart phone device, and has an integral flip cover attached to one side of the protective case, shell or frame which can be opened to use the smart phone device and closed when the smart phone is not in use, to protect the touch screen of the smart phone.
However, most of the flip cover protective cases of the smart phone devices typically have just the single function of protecting or decorating the exterior and touch screen of the smart phone. Some of the latest flip cover protective cases do provide additional functions to activate and de-activate the touch screen of the smart phone device when a user opens or closes the flip cover. Some flip covers have transparent viewing windows to display information like the current date and time within the boundary of the transparent viewing window when a user closes the flip cover, and also allow the user to answer a phone call by swiping the transparent viewing window without opening the flip cover.
There are also flip cover protective cases that come with a Bluetooth QWERTY keyboard typically attached to the inner side of the flip cover. The user can only use the keyboard when the flip cover is open. However, the input always needs to occupy both hands of the user, or the user has to put the keyboard flip cover case on a flat surface like a table to do the keyboard input. Furthermore, such type of flip cover is generally much heavier and thicker.